Dragline buckets are used to excavate, dig, scrape, or drag earth, for example, in strip mining operations. In such operations, buckets are suspended from cranes or the like by a hoist line, and are manipulated by the hoist line and other control lines so as to dig earth from one location and then move the earth filled bucket to another location where it is dumped. Because of the size and cost of the machinery involved, it is desirable to obtain maximum use of the machinery in order to achieve maximum cost efficiency.
In dragline machinery where wire lines are utilized for the hoist and drag lines, these lines interact with the dragline bucket and the earth being excavated, thereby incurring damage and wear. Replacement of such lines can be time consuming, and thus replacement of these lines can hinder the cost effective use of the machinery.
A need has thus arisen for a wire line protection device for minimizing abrasive wear, accidental damage and nonrepairability of such lines which are directly connected to a dragline bucket.